Mechanism tor counting sheets



H. R. MILLER & H; E ELBERTY.

MECHANISM FOR COUNTING SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 4. I9I6.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

Quorum J Hunrurno WASHINQ u c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY R. MILLER AND HARRY E. ELBERTY, OF NEW CASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

MECHANISM FOR COUNTING SHEETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY R. MILLER and I'IARRY E. ELBERTY, citizens of the United States, residing at New Castle, in the county of Lawrence and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Counting Sheets, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to counting devices, and particularly to mechanism for counting tin plates. At the present time tin plates are assorted by girls, one sheet or plate at a time. Then these tin plates are counted and boxed, there being 56, 62 or 75 sheets or plates in each boX.

The general object of our invention is to do away with the necessity of manually counting the plates after they are assorted, and provide a mechanism by which, when the plates are assorted, they may be counted.

A further object of our invention is the provision of a counting mechanism of this character which may be used in conjunction with an ordinary asserting table and which will rise as the sheets are disposed upon a table and fall to a normal position when the sheets are removed.

A further object of our invention is the provision of a device of this character which will ring a bell or otherwise indicate when a predetermined number of plates have been counted, and which will also register the total number of plates or the total number of sections of plates which have been put up, in other words, the total number of boxes of plates which have been packed.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of this character which may be easily adapted to be used in connection with a weighing machine.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a counting mechanism constructed in accordance with our invention, the sheets disposed upon the table being in section; Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the standard, a top plan view of the counting mechanism, the bell 26 being removed and the clapper 27 being in section; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a modified form of apparatus.

One form of this invention is illustrated in Fig. 1 wherein 1.0 designates a table or like support upon which the sheets a are assorted aud piled. Mounted upon this table is the standard 11 which forms a stop or abutment for the tin sheets. Slidably mounted upon the standard 11 is a casing 12 containing the registering mechanism and the counting wheel. The registering mechanism may be of any suitable construction and it is operated, for instance, from the shaft 13 of the registering wheel 14, this shaft being mounted in suitable bearings in the casing 12. The wheel is is formed on its periphery with ratchet teeth 15, and a pawl 16 prevents the reverse rotation of the wheel 14. For the purpose of giving a step by step rotation to the wheel 14, we provide an angular operating pawl 17 whose horizontal member 18 engages with the teeth 15. The arm 18 is pivoted to the vertical member 19 and is resiliently engaged therewith by means of a spring 20. The arm 19 is pivoted as at 21, and its lower end normally bears against a stop 22, it being held in this position by means of a spring 23. Mounted in the casing 12 at the lower end thereof is a shaft 24: mounted upon which is a ratchet wheel 25. This wheel has relatively large teeth and the shaft 24: is so arranged, as to permit one-half of the wheel to project below the casing 12. Mounted upon the casing 12 is a bell 26 having a clapper 27, and mounted upon the ratchet wheel 14 is any suitable means designated 28 for operating this clapper once for each revolution of the wheel 14:. It is obvious that many devices might be used for this purpose. The operation of this form of our invention will be obvious from the drawing. When there are no sheets or tin plates upon the table 10 the sliding casing is at its lowest point and supported so that the lower edge of one of the teeth 25 of the ratchet wheel 25 is flush with the upper face of the table 10, and one of these teeth 25 is disposed in advance of the stop or standard 11. Now when a sheet of tin plate is disposed upon the table and slid rearward so as to engage the stop or standard, it will engage the forward tooth 25 and rotate the wheel one notch. Inasmuch as the whole weight of the casing, the mechanism contained therein and the wheel 25 is supported upon this sheet of metal, it will be obvious that the insertion of the'sheet will cause the sliding casing to rise an amount equal to the rotated until, as the 56th sheet is placed in the box, the bell will ring, indicating that a box full of sheets has been counted. The sheets are th n removed, the casing 12 again SlI1l-IS. and the parts are in position for a second lot of sheets to be counted. Itis obvious that the shaft 13 may be connected to 'stering mechanism which will indicate it ily the number of steps made by the wheel it but also the number of boxes which la e been filled, or any other suitable reg- 1 v isteiing arrangement may be made.

In the form of the invention illustrated in log. 3 exactly the same principle is used as that shown in Fig. 1, but the only difference is that in this case the mechanism is intended to be used with a weighing machine and it is not desirable that the weight of the casing, the registering wheels and other mechanism, slide, etc, shall come upon the weighing machine. T o that end we so design the construction illustrated in Fig. 3 that only the ratchet wheel bears upon the sheets. In this construction, for instance, the shaft 24c which carries the counting wheel 25" is mounted for vertical movement on a bracket 29, this bracket being supported upon a vertical shaft 30 which is operatively connected to the registering mechanism of any suitable character. Slidably mounted upon the shaft 30 is a sleeve 31 which is splined to the shaft and carries a beveled gear wheel and mounted upon the shaft 2& of the counting wheel 25 is a beveled gear wheel which meshes with the beveled gear wheel 32. It is now obvious that as the sheets are piled up upon the table 10, the counting wheel 25, will rise and carry with it the sleeve 31 without, however, allowing the weight of the shaft 30 or the counting mechanism to bear downward upon the sheets. Only the teeth 25 will bear down upon the sheets.

Having described the invention, what we claim is:

1. In a sheet counting mechanism, a member against which sheets are adapted to be disposed in superposed relation, and sheet actuated counting mechanism slidably supported with reference to the member and shifted away from said member by the disposition of successive sheets thereon.

2. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table upon which the sheets are adapted to be dis posed in superposed relation, a stop against which the sheets are placed, and sheet actuated counting mechanism slidably support ed for vertical movement with reference to the table and shiftable away from the table by the disposition thereon of successive sheets.

3. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table upon which sheets are adapted to be dis posed in superposed relation, a stop against which the sheets are placed, a vertically movable ratchet wheel adapted to rest upon said sheets and be raised by the disposition of successive sheets on the table and to be rotated a predetermined distance by the engagement of a sheet with the teeth thereof, and registering mechanism operatively connected to the ratchet wheel.

4. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table, a vertically extending stop, a vertically movable supporting member carried upon the stop and extending over the table, a toothed wheel carried by said vertically movable member and projecting below it and disposed in the path of movement of the sheets being placed upon the table, and registering mechanism operatively connected to the toothed wheel.

In a sheet counting mechanism, a table, a vertically extending stop, a slide mounted upon the stop and extending over the table, a ratchet wheel mounted upon said slide, the teeth of said wheel being adapted to contact with the face of one sheet and the edge of a superposed sheet as the sheet is moved against the stop, and registering mechanism operatively connected to the ratchet wheel.

6. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table, a vertically movable ratchet wheel adapted to be supported upon sheets laid upon the table, the teeth of the ratchet wheel being adapted to be engaged and the ratchet wheel rotated by the placing of successive sheets on the table, and an indicator operatively connected to the ratchet wheel and actuated by the revolutions of the ratchet wheel.

7. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table, a vertically extending stop, a casing slidable upon the stop and extending over the table, a ratchet wheel mounted upon the casing and depending below it and disposed in the path of movement of sheets placed upon said table and against the stop, a ratchet toothed registering wheel mounted within the casing, and a lever pivoted in the casing engaged by the teeth of the ratchet wheel and having a pawl engaging the teeth of the registering wheel.

8. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table, a vertically extending stop, a casing slidably mounted upon the stop, a ratchet wheel carried by the casing and extending below it and over the table and adapted to be given an intermittent rotation by the placing of successive sheets upon the table against the stop and adapted to be raised by successive sheets, a registering shaft mounted in the casing, means for operatively engaging the ratchet Wheel with the registering shaft to give a step by step rotation to the latter, and registering mechanism connected to said shaft.

9. In a sheet counting mechanism of the character described, a table upon which sheets are adapted to be disposed in superposed relation, a vertically extending stop against which the sheets are placed, a casing slidably mounted upon the stop and extending over the table, a ratchet wheel mounted upon the casing and projecting below it and having its teeth disposed in the path of movement of the sheets as they are shifted in position against the stop to thereby cause an intermittent rotation of the ratchet wheel, the ratchet wheel and casing being lifted one step upon the superposition of each sheet, a lever pivoted within the casing and having its lower end engaged by the ratchet wheel, a spring holding the lever in normal position, a registering wheel having teeth, a pawl on the lever engaging said teeth, a shaft upon which the registering wheel is mounted, and registering mechanism connected to the shaft.

10. In a sheet counting mechanism, a sheet supporting member against which sheets are adapted to be disposed in superposed relation, counting mechanism, and an actuating means including a member operatively connected to the counting mechanism and slid- :1 bly supported with reference to said mem ber to thereby be shifted away from the member by the disposition of successive sheets thereon, said actuating member being pivoted and intermittently shifted by the engagement of a sheet therewith to cause an actuation of the counting mechanism.

11. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table upon which the sheets are adapted to be disposed in superposed relation, an indicating mechanism, and a member movable relatively away from the table by the interposition of a sheet between it and the table and adapted to be shifted one step by the engagement of successive sheets with the said member and operatively connected to the indicating mechanism to actuate the indicating mechanism one step upon each shifting of said movable member.

12. In a sheet counting mechanism, a table upon which the sheets are adapted to be disposed in superposed relation, a toothed wheel having teeth disposed in the path of movement of the sheets and to be thereby rotated a predetermined distance by the engagement of a sheet with the teeth of the wheel, said toothed Wheel and table being mounted for relative movement toward and from each other to permit the interposition of superposed sheets between the toothed wheel and the table, and indicating mechanism operatively connected to the said wheel.

13. I11 a sheet counting mechanism, a supporting member against which sheets are adapted to be disposed in superposed relation, and mechanism indicating the superposition of a predetermined number of sheets upon said supporting member, said mechanism including a member slidably supported. with reference to the supporting member and adapted to be engaged by successive sheets as they are disposed in superposed re lation and to be thereby shifted away from the supporting member.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

HARRY R. MILLER. HARRY E. ELBERTY. Witnesses:

H. G. MILLER, J. G. MILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

